


The Desolate Wasteland

by Mshpiece



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Blood, F/F, Gem War, Homeworld - Freeform, Scratching, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-04
Updated: 2015-09-04
Packaged: 2018-04-19 02:01:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4728584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mshpiece/pseuds/Mshpiece
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pearl awakens on a graying war zone, unable to find anyone, and searches for Rose.<br/>This fic switches perspectives very briefly between Pearl and Rose, but mostly stays in Pearl's point of view. There is a minor moment of scratching as self harm, and implications of blood, but they are not excessively focused on in the story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Desolate Wasteland

The ruins of gem technology and rising smoke was all Pearl could catch eye of. She struggled to reach for her spear, struggled to pull herself out of whatever was pressing down on her torso, trapping her. Her staff was a mere foot out of reach of her hand. Just a foot. Why couldn't she reach..?  
She squished her eyes shut and strained forwards, pressing her legs into the ground. She felt her fingers scrape the side of the spear. Her eyes opened, not expecting to feel it, and began to try and grasp it, scratching her fingers along the pole. It began to tip closer to her hand, and she grabbed it. She slammed it into the ground and used it to pull herself out.  
She stood up once she felt her legs had space under the wreckage and turned back to look at where she was stuck. The battle seemed to fade away most of the color everywhere; her captor was a graying dull spacecraft of sorts. Its intended purpose was unknown; it was too damaged to be able to pinpoint its benefits. Pearl could assume, however, that it was a homeworld craft. The way the ship looked like it was built wasn't similar to the machinery of the Crystal Gems.  
Pearl exhaled, realizing just then how short of breath she was, and turned to look at the remains of the field. She could see through the smoke at this point, but the gray remained. Everything was covered in gray dirt, and gray soot, and fading gray. Pearl looked down at her arms, and clothes, and at her staff. She was covered in dirt, and was starting to turn a very similar shade.  
She hastily brushed the dirt off her clothes and tried rubbing the dirt off her arms. It just seemed to make her arm a darker shade of gray. She kept rubbing, pressing her hands hard against her forearms. It made no difference. Pearl's throat caught, and she dug her nails into her arms. She scratched roughly, angry frustration adding to her distraught state. She was unclean, she was messy, she couldn't see anyone, she couldn't see the earth, the Earth, the place her and Rose grew to love...  
Rose.  
Pearl looked up with a gasp, her hands gripping her upper arms. She looked beside her and picked up her spear. She hadn't realized it had fallen out of her hands.  
Her fingers leaving dulled red imprints on the pole, Pearl pressed the spear into the mounds of debris as a staff to climb up and try to get a better view. Still gray everywhere. Pearl kept walking.  
She didn't see anything that looked relatively alive. The smoke and gray was overtaking. Pearl had a wandering thought of Rose injured, graying like she was, but shut it out, quickening her pace.  
She walked along a somewhat clear pathway, glancing about hastily. She still hadn't seen anyone. No earth creatures. No Crystal Gems. Not even a gem from homeworld. Pearl was standing in a desolate wasteland, graying into nothingness.  
She broke into a desperate run, no longer looking around at the destroyed machines. She stared straight again, not taking in anything, having no conscious thought process. She felt her arms getting cold but kept running.  
She needed to find her. She needed to find Rose. She needed to find someone, but she especially needed to find Rose.  
A piece of a ship fell off and in front of her, tripping her. She sprawled forward, slamming her face into the ground. Her face stung and felt like it was covered in dirt. She lifted her head up, slowly moving her hand to brush off some of the dirt. It was gray. Now her face was gray, too.  
Pearl rolled over onto her back, staring up into the sky. The clouds were indistinguishable from each other, and she could still see smoke rising into the air. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, trying to steady herself. Her face started to have a sensation of burning.  
She exhaled through her mouth, feeling her breath falter, feeling it tremble as it left her throat. She sat up, hunched over, gingerly wiping the dirt off her cuts and softer parts of her face.  
Pearl pushed herself up off the ground and turned around. She started walking slowly again, looking ahead but focusing her gaze down at the ground a few feet in front of her.  
The ground kicked up dust and moved the dirt around Pearl's feet, leaving some to settle on her, graying her shoes. She didn't care anymore; she only felt an obligation to keep walking, to keep looking.  
Looking back, she wasn't sure when she first noticed it. Maybe for only a moment, maybe for several paces before registering and looking up. But color came into view, and when Pearl did pay attention, she saw a clear white and pink figure, standing at the side of a grayed tree.  
Pearl broke into a run again, a flood of relief rushing over her at the sight of Rose. She stood out like an angel, her white dress contrasting so much with the gray.  
Pearl was quickly able to climb up the hill and reach her. She hesitated, and approached her slowly.  
Rose's hair was frizzy, and disorganized. Unable to tie it back in any way, it had knotted, and wasn't flowing down her back in its usual fashion. No wind blew. It hung off onto her back, and at her sides.  
Pearl slowly walked to her side, not feeling a necessity to bow and await a response. That felt like too much to ask of her leader at this moment.  
She stood beside Rose, looking out and up at the sky. There was less smoke coming up from below the bluff she and Rose stood at, but the expanse was still gray.  
Rose made a slight movement, and Pearl glanced over. Rose looked back at her. She looked tired. Her expression was worn and burdened. She stood out from the gray in her brightness, but the battle had very clearly taken a toll on her too.  
"Well." Rose said, softly. "We can never go home."  
Pearl nodded, looking Rose in the eyes, recalling their conversation the last time they were alone together. That felt like ages ago. How could so much destruction happen so quickly?  
Rose turned away and broke down. She began to sob openly, and fell to her knees.  
Pearl felt the first pangs of exhaustion then, staring at her leader breaking down overlooking the destruction. She gazed out into the valley they stood before, the impact of the damage beginning to sink in. Pearl's breath caught. There were so many Crystal Gems. There were so many homeworld gems. Where did they go? Could they all have perished? Were her and Rose truly the only ones left?  
Rose had not stopped weeping. Pearl stood at her side, watching.  
"Rose."  
The tears didn't stop.  
"There isn't enough."  
Rose didn't make any indication that she had heard Pearl; she just continued to cry.  
"Rose, it's not possible!"  
Rose fell back and let out a wail. It pierced the sky and filled the field with a helpless, aching sadness. Pearl paused, affected strongly by the sorrow, but reached out to place a hand carefully on Rose's shoulder. "There aren't enough tears," she said, her voice down to a whisper. "You won't be able to heal them."  
Rose looked up at Pearl. Her face was quivering. It looked like she was trying to grapple against what Pearl was saying and her stubborn desire to repair everything that happened.  
A new spring of tears came to her eyes, and she looked down, knowing Pearl was right. She wasn't able to save the gems here. She wasn't able to save the creatures of Earth. She wasn't able to keep everything from graying and decaying and fading into nothingness.  
There was nothing she could do. No one she could save.  
Rose felt Pearl press down on her shoulder, and sit beside her. She put her head on Pearl and cried. Pearl wrapped her arm around the body of her grief-stricken angel and waited with her until the tears subsided enough for Rose to begin to breathe steadily again.  
At that point, they both stayed very quiet. Pearl had taken to running her fingers through her hair, stopping and restarting at the roots each time she came across a knot, avoiding having to cause discomfort to Rose.  
"We should head back," Pearl murmured.  
Rose felt like she had nodded. She felt herself holding Pearl's hands, helping her up onto her feet. They began walking back, out of the field, leaving the desolation to fade over.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm definitely considering rewriting this to include Garnet (not Ruby or Sapphire though, I'm sorry!), but I haven't decided yet. Please let me know what you thought of the fic! I didn't expect it to go in the direction that it did when I was writing it, but I like how it turned out. Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
